Fluid-pressure regulator and cut-off



(No Modele) e a. F. E. YOUNGS.

FLUID I RESSURE'R-BGULATOR AND GUT-OPF. y

Ne. 501,814.. e Peeeeted July 18,1893.

AIO

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEe FRED E. YOUNGS, OF ALLEGI-IENY,PENNSYLVANIA.

FLUID-PRESSURE REGULATOR AND CUT-OFF.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 501,814, dated July 18,1893. Application filed July 30, 1889. Serial No. 319,206. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, FEED E. YoUNGs, of Allegheny, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Fluid-PressureRegulators and Cut-Offs; and I dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing, which forms part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in fluid pressure regulators; andthe object of my invention is to provide a regulator which shallaccurately maintain the pressure of the gas as delivered from theregulator under all conditions of iow; which in case of a failure of thepressure in the supply line will automatically close the inlet valve andprevent the gas or fluid from entering the regulator again untilproperly adjusted therefor; and which in case the pressure in the mainline falls to a point lower than that at which the regulator is supposedto deliver the gas, may be adjusted so as to hold the inlet valve openand allow whatever pressure there is in the main line to pass throughthe regulator; and which while in this condition should the supply linepressure increase will automatically regulate the pressure in thedelivery and readjust itself so that the cut 0E may act when again.requiredY by failure in the pressure of the supply line; which shallhave means provided for holding the diaphragm weight during handling o rshipping so as to prevent injury to any of the parts of the regulator;which shall be provided with an automatic dead weight safety valveadapted to open and relieve the pressure in the regulator in case offailure of any of the other parts to act; which shall have efficientmeans for preventing fiuttering or pumping of the diaphragm; themechanism for accomplishing all of which will be more fully describedhereinafter.

The accompanying drawing represents a vertical section of a regulatorwhich em bodies my invention.

A, B, represent the case of the regulator, which is made in twoparts,pand bolted together as shown. The gas enters the lower part ofthe casing through the inlet 'pipe C, and escapes through the opening D.Cast with the inlet pipe C, as a matter of convenience is the base plateE, from which rise the two pair of lever bearings and guides F, G, inwhich the two operating levers H, I, are pivoted. The seal J, may eitherbe of the construction here shown, or any other that may be preferred,and which forms a tight joint with the valve seat L, when the valvelever H, is depressed so as to cutoff the flow of gas into the casing.The counter weight on may be of any desired construction and issufficiently heavy to keep the opposite end of the valve lever pressedupward against the diaphragm lever I. This valve lever H, is providedwith two bearing surfaces M, N, which come in contact with correspondingbearing surfaces O, P, upon the diaphragm lever I. These operatinglevers I-l, l, are preferably given the shapes here shown, so as toreduce as much as possible the friction between the bearing surface P,on the diaphragm lever I, and the bearing surfaceN, on the valve leverH.

The diaphragm lever I, is pivoted in the bearings G, at Q, and passesbetween the upper ends of the bearings E, so as to be guidedl in itsvertical movements, and has the rod R, secured to its inner and longerend; Its shorter and outer end may be shaped as here shown, or in anyother way that may be preferred, and is intended to open the safetyvalve S, when the diaphragm drops to its lowest point. point near thebottom of thelever bearings F, as shown, and passes betweenv the leverbearings G, which act as a guide for the vertical motion of the lever H.A straight line being drawn through the centers of the pivots of theoperating levers will pass at a point just below the bearing surfaces Pand N, as shown in the drawing or at a point half way between theeXtreme upper position of the bearing surface N, and its extreme lowerposition. The arcs of the circles described by the bearing surfaces Pand N of the levers I and H, thus coincide in position, the onlyfriction of the bearing surfaces being due to the differences in theheights of these arcs.

The diaphragm T, is made of leather, rubber, or any other suitablematerial, and has The valve lever H, is pivoted at av IOO c lator.

the weight U, placed upon its top andbetween this weight and thediaphragm is placed a diaphragm pan V, which has vertical edges asshown. The upper portion of the casing B, is made perfectly straightinside, or may be inclined outward slightly so as to be larger at thetop than at'the bottom, so that as the diaphragm T, rises and falls itsarea remains the same, or increases as it rises instead of decreasing asit necessarily would where only a sufficient amount of material is usedto allow for the stroke of the diaphragm. The vertical inner sides ofthe casing B, and the vertical sides of the diaphragm pan V, cause theroll of the material of the diaphragm to remain at constantly the samecurve and thus the effective area of the diaphragm remains constantlythe same, while the pressure of the gas delivered from the regulatorWill remain constantly the same, no'matter what the volume or ilow maybe, or what position the diaphragm may occupy Within the limits of thecapacity of the regulator. In case it is desired to increase thepressure of the gas delivered from the regulator as the volume increasesso as to in a measure make up for the loss of pressure due to the flowof the gas in the pipes leading from the regulator, the upper part ofthe casing may be made tapering to increase in diameter for a distancesufficient to allow for the stroke of the diaphragm. This allows thefold of the leather to 4increase in diameter as the'diaphragm movesupward, thus in creasing the effective area of the diaphragm, and reducingthe pressure. As the diaphragm moves upward by means of the rodlR, the inner end rof the diaphragm lever I, is raised, depressing theouter end of the diaphragm lever I, and causing the bearing surface I)of the diaphragm leverI,to press downward on the bearing surface N, ofthe valve lever H, thus closing the opening in the valve C, andthrottling the inflow of the gas. As the diaphragm moves downward thereverse action takes place, the counter weight a, keeping the valvelever H, pressed upward against the diaphragm lever I, and opening theinlet valve. As the flow increases from the regulator the diaphragmfalls lower and lower so as to allow the gas to pass freely in from theinlet, and maintain the pressure in the regulator. When the upper partof the casing is made to increase in diameter upward the motion of thediaphragm downward folds the material of the diaphragm over in such amanner as to decrease its effective area of the diameter, thusincreasing the pressure of the gas in the regu- By this construction, Iam enabled to make the regulator' far more sensitive than could bepossible with the ordinary form of diaphragm, large changes in thevolume or flow having little or no effect to change the pressure of thegas delivered from the regulator.

The diaphragm in the upper part of itsl surface N, of the valve lever H,to regulate the inflow of the gas and maintain the pressure asdescribed. In case the pressure of the gas at the inlet pipe C, iscutoff so that there is no gas to tlow into the regulator the d laphragmfalls. When it reaches the point shown in the drawing, the bearingsurface O, of the diaphragm lever Lcomes in contact with the bearingsurface M, of the valve lever H, and as the diaphragm falls fartherpresses down on the valve lever H, and closes the inlet opening at thesame time that the outer end of the diaphragm lever I, lifts up the deadweight safety valve S, thus relieving all pressure in the regulator.While in this position if the gas in the inlet pipe C, be again turnedon it cannot enter the regulator as the weight ou the diaphragm firmlyholds the valve sfeal J, on to the valve seat L. In case this valve sealshould leak slightly from any cause, the fact that the dead weightsafety valve'is held open will prevent sufficient pressure fromaecumulating under the diaphragm T, to raise it and open the valve. Tothe top of the dlaphragm weight U, is attached the pull up rod W, whichextendsup through the bushing X, in the top of the case B. By unscrewingthe cap Y, and pulling up on thepull up rod W, so asto lift thediaphragm and valve leverI,

the gas is again permitted to enter through the inlet valve into theregulator.

In the distribution of fuel gas under pressure, it often occurs thatthepressure in the main line becomes less than the pressure at which theregulators are supposed to deliver. When this occurs the diaphragm T,would not have sufficient pressure under it to hold open the valve C,and would fall and entirely cut o the gas from the regulator. As it isdesirous under such circumstances to get all ofV the gas that can be gotsome means for supporting the diaphragm other than by the pressure ofthe gas must be provided. Around vthe pull up rod W, is placed a commonbolt washer Z, which may be slipped to one side a sufficient amount toallow the pull up rod W, to hang on the washer at the notched portion A.Below this notched portion the pull up rod is tapered to its full sizewhich is sufficient to form a guide in passing through the bushing X,and thus maintain a vertical movement of the diaphragm. This taperedportion of the pull up rod W, serves to slip the washer back to aposition concentric with the opening in the bushing, when the pressureof the gas becomes sufficient to support and raise the diaphragm to itsoperating position. Near the larger part of the'tapered portion of thepull up rod W, a small hole B', is bored passing through the rod. Bypulling the rod upward until the weight U, comes in contact with theinside of the top of the case the hole B', comes to a position justabove the washer Z. By passing a short piece of wire or metal throughthis hole so as to rest on each side of the Washer Z, the weight will beheld up against the casing when by slightly turning the rod IOO IOS

IIO

gas becomes too high in the regulator ,this

W, so as to tighten the Y weight against the casing by means of thethread in the top of the weight, the weight will be held so -firmly thatall injury to the diaphragm from jarring or otherwise will be prevented.The dead Weight safety vvalve is usually made so as to open at apressure about double-that at which the regulator is supposed to delivergas. In case of any accident to the diaphragm, or failure in the actionof any of the parts of the regulating valve so that the pressure of theVsafety valve will open and allowT the surplus gas to pass off throughthe escape outletC. In the partition between the space in the up perpart of `the casing above the diaphragm, and the space in the upper partof the casing around the safety valve is bored a small vent hole e topermit the air to pass in or out above the diaphragm. Thishole is madequite small so as to prevent the diaphragm from pumping the airin thespace above the diaphragm` acting asa check or cushion to preventfluttering. Y

Having thus described my invention, I claim-f v 1. `In a fluid pressureregulator, the combination of the diaphragm, the diaphragm leveroperated thereby, and provided with the bearing snrfaceP, and the valvelever provided with the bearing surface N, with a valve which controlsthe inflow of the gas, substantially as shown.. n Y

2. In a iuid pressure regulator, the combination of the diaphragm, thediaphragm le ver operated thereby, and provided with the bearingsurfaces O, P, and the valve lever` provided with the bearing surfacesN, M, withY a valve which controls or entirely cuts off the iow of :thegas, substantially as described.

3. Ina uid pressure regulator, the combination of a diaphragm, thediaphragm lever operated thereby, and provided with the bearl ingsurface O, and the valve lever provided with the bearin g surface M,with avalve which will entirely cut off the flow of gas when thepressure becomes too low to support the diaphragm, substantially asshown.

4. The combination of the diaphragm, adiaph ragm lever connectedthereto, a valve lever which is operated by the diaphragm lever, and asafety valve which is operated 'by the diaphragm leverwh'enthe'diaphragm drops, l

substantially as set forth.

5. Ina fluid pressure regulator, the combination of a casing providedwith a separatev escape chamber, a safety valve placed therein, adiaphragm, and the operating levers which are operated thereby,'anopeningbeing made through thepartition between the diaphragm chamber,and the escape cham- K 8. The combinationof the diaphragm, the:

weight 'placedrthereomthe pull up rodpro- .vided with the shouldersAi,anda tapered portion below the shoulders, and thelaterally movablewasher Z, placed upon the casing, A

substantially yas set forth. p y. p

9. The combination ofthe casing, provided with a perforated lbushing initstop, the diay phragm,`the Weight placed upon the. diaphragm andprovided withupturnededges,

the pull up rod W, provided with a 'hole' B', whereby the weight and thediaphragm may y Witnesses;

F. A. LEHMANN, I W. I-I. I-I. COOPER.

